Closure sleeve



G. ELFGEN CLOSURE SLEEVE Jan. .27, 197 0 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 9, 1968 AVKFA rdd era We a Jan. 27, 1970 ELFGEN 3,491,410

CLOSURE SLEEVE Filed July 9, 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 I q I o n v v n I l :rD m

104 706 Fly 6 ya I ELFGEN CLOSURE sLEEvE Jan. 27, 1970 4 SheetS -Sheet 5 Filed July 9, 1968 G. ELFGEN CLOSURE SLEEVE Jan. 27, 1970 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed July 9, 1968 65rd Ff 99 n United States Patent 3,491,410 CLOSURE SLEEVE Gerd Elfgen, 30 Birkenstrasse, 5047 Wesseling, Bezirk Cologne, Germany Filed July 9, 1968, Ser. No. 743,552 Claims priority, application Germany, July 12, 1967,

Int. Cl. B65d 63/00, 67/02 U.S. CI. 24-16 10 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to a closure sleeve for interconnecting strip portions, especially of nonmetallic strips as are employed, for instance, in the tying of cable conduits, in the packing industry, etc.

It is known to join or interconnect strips or strip ends by means of closure sleeves made of rectangular plate sections which sleeves are notched or corrugated at the joint or connecting area. Since a notching of the strips is frequently not desirable, or is not possible for reasons of strength, for instance with synthetic strips, the fastening of the strips in such cases can only be attained by a high pressing force exerted by the closure sleeve. Therefore, comparatively long closure sleeves are required, and the equipment for working the closure sleeves must be strong and heavy.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to obviate the above-mentioned drawbacks.

It is another object of this invention to provide a closure sleeve as well as a device for closing the closure sleeve, which will bring about an easy and reliable interconnection of the strip portions to be connected to each other.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly from the following specification in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view on an enlarged scale of an embodiment of a closure sleeve according to the invention after the two sleeve sections have been connected to each other;

FIGURE 2 shows a side view of an embodiment of a closure sleeve according to the invention prior to the joining of the two sleeve sections;

FIGURE 3 is an isometric view of a sleeve section comprising a plurality of extensions and eyes;

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of a further embodiment of a closure sleeve according to the invention in which the press surfaces of the two sleeve sections are provided with teeth;

FIGURES 5-7 illustrate in side view a further preferred embodiment of a closure sleeve according to the invention and show the same at different phases prior to the connection of the sleeve sections, during the connecting operation of said sleeve sections, and after the sleeve sections have been connected;

FIGURE 8 is an isometric view of the closure sleeve according to FIGURE 7;

FIGURE 9 illustrates in side view an embodiment of the device for connecting the sleeve sections;

FIGURE 10 shows the device of FIGURE 9 in top view; and

FIGURE 11 is an enlargement of the fastening end of the device of FIGURES 9 and 10.

The closure sleeve according to the invention for connccting strips, especially strips of synthetic material, is characterized primarily in that it comprises two sleeve sections one end of which is provided with an extension While the other end is provided with an eye. The portion between the two ends of each sleeve section is provided with a press surface, the arrangement being such that the extension of each sleeve section is adapted to be introduced into the eye of the other sleeve section.

Preferably, the extensions and/or the eyes are provided with surfaces which are so inclined that pushing the two sleeve sections together in the longitudinal direction thereof will bring about a movement of the press surfaces toward each other. A preferred embodiment of a device according to the invention for closing the closure sleeves, comprises two feeding levers adapted to bring the two sleeve sections closely together in transverse direction, and also comprises two closing levers adapted to push the two sleeve sections together in a closing direction.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, FIGS. 1 and 2 show a closure sleeve which comprises two sleeve sections 3, 4. One end of the sleeve sections 3, 4 is provided with extensions 5, 6 respectively which continue preferably in the form of conical, pyramidal or otherwise sloped surfaces, 7, 8. The other end of said sleeve sections 3, 4 is respectively provided with eyes 11, 12 while the central portion between the ends of each sleeve section is provided with a press surface 9, 10 respectively. The eyes 11, 12 are so designed that the extensions 5, 6 can be inserted thereinto. In view of the inclined or sloped surfaces 7, 8 it will be appreciated that when the two sleeve sections are pushed together, the two press surfaces are moved toward each other and the strip ends, 1, 2 therebetween will be pressed together. To this end, also the eyes may have conical, pyramidal or otherwise sloped inner surfaces for facilitating the connecting operation.

The sleeve section illustrated in FIG. 3 has adjacent its press surface 14 four tapering extensions 15, 16, 17 and 18 and four corresponding openings or eyes 19, 20, 21 and 22. In this way a large press surface for connecting the two strips or strip sections will be realized in an advantageous manner.

Whereas according to FIGS. 1-3 the two sleeve sections are designed completely identical, it may also be expedient to design the two sleeve sections differently and in such a way that the press surfaces interengage each other in the manner of teeth. As shown in FIG. 4, the two sleeve sections .23, 24 have press surfaces provided with strong teeth 25, 26 in such a way that one tooth of one press surface faces a correspondingly formed notch of the other press surface. In this way, an especially strong connection of the strip ends 1, 2 will result.

With the preferred embodiments of FIGS. 5-8 strips 101, 102 are joined together by sleeve sections 103, 104 the extensions 105, 106 of which practically have no inclined surfaces. The connection of the two sleeve sections is effected in such a manner that in conformity with FIG. 6 the said sleeve sections have their press surfaces first pressed together. Subsequently, while maintain ing the contact pressure between the two sleeve sections 103, 104, the sleeve sections are axially moved toward each other into the position shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. The embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 5-8 has the advantage that the required clamping between the sleeve sections is not brought about by the sloped or inclined surfaces at the ends of the extensions 105, 106 so that a bending of the sleeve sections 103, 104 by high clamping forces will be avoided.

As will be seen from FIGS. 9 and 10, the apparatus according to the present invention for joining the closure sleeve is provided with two feeding levers 30, 31 which in FIG. 9 are shown in dash lines in their starting posiiton and in solid lines in their pressing position. The ends of the feeding levers are adapted respectively to receive a sleeve section 32, 33. The feeding levers are pivotable about pivots or pins 35, 36.

As will be evident from FIG. 10, the device according to the invention additionally comprises two pressing levers 37, 38 which are pivotable about pivots or pins 39, 40. The ends 41, 42 of the levers 37, 38 engage closing levers 43, 44 in such a way that when the pressing levers are squeezed together, the free ends of the closing levers will push the sleeve sections 32 and 33 together in the longitudinal direction thereof so that a sleeve 34 will result. The closing levers, 43, 44 pivot about pins 45, 46. The pressing levers 37, 38 are provided with double inclined surfaces 47, 48 so that projections 49, 50 at both sides of the feeding levers 30, 31 are pressed'inwardly in such a way that the feeding levers 30, 31 move into the pressing position shown in FIG. 9. The inclined surfaces 47, 48 are so shaped that when the pressing levers 37, 38 are squeezed together, first the feeding levers 30, 31 are brought into pressing position and subsequently the closing levers 43, 44 axially move the two sleeve sections toward each other.

The device as shown in FIGS. 9 and has its other end designed as a handle 27 forming a magazine in which two sleeve sections 28, 29 are shown, for instance, in the magazine path indicated by dash-line position. At this end there is provided a strip pressing lever 51 which is pivotable about a pivot 52 and is held in the illustrated position by means of a spring 53. A pivot 54 of the lever 51 has mounted thereon a clamping wheel 55. The clamping wheel 55 is movable by a clamping lever 56 which normally, under the influence of a spring 57, occupies the rest position shown in dash lines. By depressing the strip pressing lever 51 against the thrust of spring 53, the clamping wheel 55 which can be turned only in the direction of the arrow is moved toward the right so that a gap is formed through which a strip 58 may be introduced. The strip is passed through the magazine along the center line (shown in dash lines), is pulled out at the front end of the device, and is placed around the object (cables 62, 62a). The end 59 of said strip is introduced at the lefthand end of the device or fastened thereto. Subsequently, the strip 58 is tensioned, and thereupon the feeding levers 37, 38 and the closing levers 43, 44 are squeezed together until the fastening operation has been completed.

If desired, knives or cutting blades 60, 61 may be provided which, following the completion of the fastening operation, cut through the strip. As shown in FIG. 11, the blades 60, 61 are connected to the feeding levers 30, 31 by means of screws 65, 66. These blades 60, 61 are so mounted that their cutting edges which face each other contact each other thereby cutting through the strip sections located between the two sleeve sections of sleeve 34 as soon as the two sleeve sections have been firmly pressed together by the feeding levers 30, 31, and the strip sections are firmly pressed between them.

FIG. 11 shows the forward end of the device according' to the invention on an enlarged scale with the feeding levers 30, 31 shown in their final pressing position of the sleeve sections. At the same time, the two pressed together strip sections have been cut through by blades 60, 61.

In" the preceding open position of the feeding levers 30,31 as shown in FIG. 9 by dash lines, the free end of thestrip 58 was loosely introduced into a slot 63 at the front side of the device. During the closing movement of the feeding levers, blade 61 slides over the slot 63 and clamps the end of the strip tightly between the front edge 64 of the device and the adjacent edge of the blade 61, so that the strip end can no longer be pulled out of the slot 63. During the movement of the blade 61 over the slot 63, simultaneously a tightening of the stri around the cable 62, 62a is effected.

It is, of course, to be understood, that the present invention is, by no means, limited to the particular structure shown in the drawings, but also comprises numerous modifications that will appear to those skilled in the art.

What I claim is:

1. A closure sleeve for the interconnection of strips and strip ends, especially of strips of synthetic material, which comprises: two sleeve sections adapted to receive therebetween strip portions to be connected to each other, each of said sleeve sections having extension means and eye means and a roughened press surface between said eye means and said extension means, the eye means of each of said sleeve sections being adapted to receive the extension means of the other sleeve section.

2. A closure sleeve according to claim 1, in which said press surface comprises teeth,

3. A closure sleeve according to claim 1, in which the press surface of one sleeve section comprises at least one raised surface area and in which the other sleeve section comprises at least one cavity for receiving said raised surface area.

4. A closure sleeve according to claim 1, in which at least one of said extension means and eye means of each of said sleeve sections has a surface so inclined as to bring about a movement of said press surface toward each other in response to said extension means of one sleeve section moving into the eye means of the other sleeve section.

5. A closure sleeve according to claim 1, in which each of said sleeve sections has a plurality of extension means and eye means.

6. A closure sleeve according to claim 1, said two sleeve sections each having a press surface essentially parallel to interconnection of strips and strip ends forced together due to minimal spacing between press surfaces upon insertion into corresponding eye means,

7. An apparatus for closing closure sleeves comprising two sleeve sections and adapted to interconnect strip portions, which comprises: supporting means, first lever means pivotally connected to said supporting means for moving said sleeve sections relative to each other along a first plane, and second lever means pivotally connected to said supporting means for moving said sleeve sections relative to each other along a second plane perpendicular to said first plane.

8. An apparatus according to claim 7, in which said supporting means forms a magazine for receiving and storing sleeve sections.

9. An apparatus according to claim 7, in which one end of one of said first and second lever means is adapted to receive a sleeve section from said magazine.

10. An apparatus according to claim 7, in which at least one lever means is operable to exert upon strip portions in said apparatus a force at least approximating the force necessary for firmly interconnecting said strip portions.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,447,921 8/ 1948 Thomas.

3,203,067 8/1965 Elsner.

3,344,815 10/1967 Lawson et al. 93.2 3,353,227 11/1967 Kabel.

3,372,439 3/1968 Schmid 24-21 DONALD A. GRIFFIN, Primary Examiner 

